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andrewheard

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 16, 2005
166
0
Ontario, Canada
Hi,

Last March I took the plunge and I got a Mac mini. It was my first ever OS X machine and it totally got me hooked. Now I would like to take a step up and get an iMac G5. My sister said that she'd like to buy my Mac mini off of me and by Christmas I will have enough for the 17-inch iMac. Do you think that I should buy it at Christmas or should I painfully wait until Macworld. The iMacs just received a pretty big update in my opinion. Do you think that the Macworld iMacs will be that much better or will there even be an update? Waiting for the Intel Macs is out of the question because I don't want to buy one of the first generation Intel machines. And 2 questions regarding the iMac in general: 1. Would it seem quite a bit faster than the Mac mini? 2. Would it be able to last me 2 and a half years until its time to go off to university and I'll get an Intel powerbook then.

Thanks in advance,

Andrew
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
I have a Rev. A and it blows the doors off of the mini. (my gf has one) Would love the new Rev. Go for it.
 

Eevee

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2004
790
0
New Haven, CT
The iMac was just updated, so if I were you, I would get it for Christmas instead of waiting until MacWorld.

I just ordered my G5 PowerMac with the 7800 card. It will be delivered on Dec 28th. :( Guess this will be my New Years gift.
 

zach

macrumors 65816
Feb 14, 2003
1,204
0
Medford
Don't wait, go for it. I highly doubt the iMacs will be upgraded at MacWorld, and even if they were, it would be a minor clockspeed upgrade most likely. Just do it.

it would seem a lot faster, especially if you put a bunch of ram in it.

and if you don't need amazing amounts of power or portability, yeah, it should last you quite a few years.
 

andrewheard

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 16, 2005
166
0
Ontario, Canada
Is it just me or do new PCs seem just as slow as the old one after a couple weeks because Windows starts bogging down. I found that I needed to reinstall Windows every 6 months to keep it peppy and that's if there were no spyware problems in between. I haven't reinstalled OS X since I installed Tiger. Also, why does my mac mini encode/decode H.264 faster than my 2GHz PC?
 

andrewheard

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 16, 2005
166
0
Ontario, Canada
I think I'm pretty much decided that I won't wait till Macworld. I do want to know if I should sell my wireless keyboard/mouse to my sister along with the mac mini though. I could care less that the apple combo isn't wireless but does the mighty mouse suck? I've heard mixed reviews. I won't be playing games on the thing if thats what they have trouble with.
 

hyperpasta

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2005
680
0
New Jersey
andrewheard said:
I think I'm pretty much decided that I won't wait till Macworld. I do want to know if I should sell my wireless keyboard/mouse to my sister along with the mac mini though. I could care less that the apple combo isn't wireless but does the mighty mouse suck? I've heard mixed reviews. I won't be playing games on the thing if thats what they have trouble with.

The Mighty Mouse is a bit over-engineered. However, I promise it's better than an Apple Wireless Mouse (in ergonomics and function, not wirelessness), because you can alwasy turn off two-button mode and just use it as a scrolling one-button mouse.
 

macEfan

macrumors 65816
Apr 7, 2005
1,210
7
as others said, go ahead and buy it. It just got updated and wont be for a while. i am glad to hear that you are enjoying the Mac!
 

Malfoy

macrumors 6502a
Nov 1, 2005
688
2
Eevee said:
The iMac was just updated, so if I were you, I would get it for Christmas instead of waiting until MacWorld.

I just ordered my G5 PowerMac with the 7800 card. It will be delivered on Dec 28th. :( Guess this will be my New Years gift.

Do they charge right away or when they ship? It's been a year since my last Apple purchase.
 

Eevee

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2004
790
0
New Haven, CT
Malfoy said:
Do they charge right away or when they ship? It's been a year since my last Apple purchase.


I believe they charge when it's shipped. So...when are you gonna make your next Apple purchase? :rolleyes:
 

wdlove

macrumors P6
Oct 20, 2002
16,568
0
andrewheard said:
I think I'm pretty much decided that I won't wait till Macworld. I do want to know if I should sell my wireless keyboard/mouse to my sister along with the mac mini though. I could care less that the apple combo isn't wireless but does the mighty mouse suck? I've heard mixed reviews. I won't be playing games on the thing if thats what they have trouble with.

Unless she already has a keyboard and mouse she will need them. I think that you are very smart to go ahead and purchase the iMac. It will give you an awesome Christmas.
 

JDOG_

macrumors 6502a
Nov 19, 2003
786
0
Oakland
Get one, you'll absolutely love it.

Don't wait. There's not point in waiting unless you absolutely see yourself needing an Intel Mac in a year or so. In all likelyhood, you won't. :rolleyes:

Plus the built-in iSight rocks!
 

andrewheard

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 16, 2005
166
0
Ontario, Canada
I was pretty much set on buying the iMac G5 with 1GB of RAM but now that I've read that article from Geek.com about building to order I'm not so sure if I should. If I were to go to an Apple Store would they be able to put the 512mb of ram in it and would I be able to use my sister's student discount. Also would they be able to take it out of the box and show me that there are no dead pixels. What are the chances of getting a monitor with dead pixels? Even my $300CND Benq LCD has no dead pixels. I don't want to have to go to the Apple store because its 2 hours away but I will if I have to.
 

Malfoy

macrumors 6502a
Nov 1, 2005
688
2
Eevee said:
I believe they charge when it's shipped. So...when are you gonna make your next Apple purchase? :rolleyes:

Beginning of december most likely.
 

jmufellow

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2005
215
0
Abstract said:
Make it a white Christmas, Andrew. Make it a white Christmas.
nice :)

But I would definitely advise you to go for an iBook (if you want portability) or a iMac. I just got a new 12" iBook, and it is suiting me well for school.
 
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